Meaning & use
love child
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountableold-fashioned
A child born to two people who are not married to each other, especially from a secret or short relationship.
Grammar: Dated; appears in news and history, mainly about famous people.
Patterns
- a love child of someone
- have a love child
The newspaper claimed the singer had a love child with a dancer.
In the novel, the duke's love child is raised in a village.
Rumors of a love child nearly ended the politician's career.
Word forms
| plural | love children |
|---|
Common combinations
- have a love child
- The king was said to have a love child.
- secret love child
- A secret love child appeared in the will.
- love child of
- The boy was the love child of a baron and a maid.
- acknowledge a love child
- He refused to acknowledge his love child.
- rumored love child
- The rumored love child was never confirmed.
Synonyms and how they differ
- illegitimate child
- Illegitimate child is a harsher legal term, while love child sounds romantic or gossipy.
- natural child
- Natural child is an older legal phrase and sounds more formal.
- child out of wedlock
- This phrase is neutral but old-fashioned and focuses on the parents' marriage.
Word family
Commonly confused: love child or lovechild?
love child vs lovechild
Lovechild and love child are both used; the two-word form is more common in dictionaries.
Practice
Which is the closest meaning of love child in an old gossip column?
Choose one answer.
Love child refers to a child of unmarried parents; the other options do not relate to parentage.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “love child”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.